After 581 days of a ghostly existence patrolling the Leafs blue line, Francois Beauchemin was shipped out of Toronto today. The Anaheim Ducks picked up Beauchemin. While the Leafs added Joffrey Lupul, Jake Gardiner, and a 4th round conditional pick in the 2013 draft.
Leaf fans were left scratching their heads. Wasn't Francois Beauchemin a key piece of the Burke build out? He is only 30. A Stanley Cup winner. A big team guy. Not much in the truculence department, but didn't take many nights off. Beauchemin was a solid citizen and a real NHL defenseman. Why did the Leafs give up on him?
The reality is that Beauchemin is gone because Komisarik and Phaneuf have been a huge bust. Francois was never meant to be a big-minutes, high impact, lift-the-fans-out-of-their seats type player. What is the point of keeping a perfect number four defenseman when your first three are in shambles? No point, really. So bye-bye Francois.
Burke knows that every NHL playoff team needs a dominant number one goalie, a clear cut number one defenseman, and an high impact, point-per-game center. The Leafs are 0 for 3 in that department. Can Jake Gardiner be a number one NHL defenseman? No one knows. But Burke needs to find 4 or 5 prospects who have the potential, and Gardiner is now added to the list.
Phaneuf makes number one defenceman money, but is not and never will be a dominant NHL number one defenseman. I'd like to see Phaneuf and Komisarik join the exodus. Burke has made a lot of mistakes, but this one looks pretty good on paper.
